The signs, on white circular pieces of wood, show the outline of faces that have been influential in the fight for civil rights — including prominent slaves and an interracial couple that fought to break down barriers in the sixties.

Underneath each painting is a white cloth stapled on with a bio of each person.

The small signs are on the JEB Stuart, Stonewall Jackson and Jeff Davis monuments. But not on those not involved with the Civil War.

Conversation (7)

While the message that these signs deliver is a noble one, the fact of the matter is the manner in which it was delivered is vandalism pure and simple. It sickens me every time one of these great monuments is vandalized.

I disagree with the extreme sentiment of SEW… while this could be defined as a mild version of vandalism, there is no damage being done to these monuments and the signs are in no way attacking the person whom these monuments commemorate. If the police waste a single minute trying to identify the people who put these signs up I would be disappointed.

This is a wonderfully creative way to point out the things left out of the Monument Avenue version of history. Wouldn’t you rather have this than spray paint or damage? Attaching a wooden sign to a fence is hardly damaging to the physical monument, although it might be (fruitfully) damaging to the glorification of people like Lee and Jackson.

While you may not think this is vandalism, I do. At the very least its the defacing of public property. Would I prefer this over orange paint? Absolutely! This is much easier (and cheaper I might add) to clean up.

Jeff, I find it interesting that you commented “the signs are in no way attacking the person whom these monuments commemorate”. Who did you come to this conclusion especially give the fact that these signs went up only on Confederate monuments.

Jason, I feel we’ll have to agree to disagree on your comment “although it might be (fruitfully) damaging to the glorification of people like Lee and Jackson.” I feel they should be glorified. They fought for their country. I had ancestors who fought in the Civil War and am very proud of my Southern heritage. I feel as though any person who fights for their country should be glorifies in any way possible.

SEW I think you are offended because these signs challenge your worldviews. Yes southern heritage deserves all of the reenactments and bumper stickers but if you don’t question the past and how it was achieved those errors will continue to occur. This was a harmless and thought provoking display of a history that we prefer not to see.

SEW,
The problem with “heritage” is that it leaves out most of the history. If you want to remember the military exploits, you have to remember the darker parts too, including slavery and other southern “traditions” like segregation that came later.